Child seats are typically required to be mounted onto a regular vehicle seat and retained in position by the shoulder harness seatbelt. The shoulder harness seatbelt is threaded through slot openings in the back rest of the child seat and attached to the corresponding buckle. The child is then retained within the child seat with straps and buckles integral to the child seat itself. As a result, the vehicle's shoulder harness is the key mechanism that retains the child seat in position in the event of a car accident. Child seats are required by law in all states and must be used until the child reaches a certain age and/or weight that is deemed safe for use of the regular shoulder harness.
Installing a child seat is a time-consuming, unwieldy and unpleasant task. Most of the difficulty is associated with strapping the child seat in place via the vehicle's shoulder harness. To install a child seat within the regular seat of a vehicle, the installer must follow steps comprising: 1) setting the child seat on the vehicle seat with the back rest of the child seat resting against the back rest of the vehicle seat; 2) grasping the shoulder harness latch plate with a first hand; 3) while maintaining the grasp on the latch plate, inserting the latch plate within a first slot opening in the child seat back rest; 4) while continuing to maintain the grasp on the latch plate, leaning into the vehicle and reaching around the child seat with the second hand; 5) while still continuing to maintain the grasp on the latch plate, inserting the second hand inside an opposed slot opening in the back rest of the child seat; 6) reaching inside the opposed slot opening with the second hand until the second hand contacts the latch plate; 7) grasping the latch plate with the second hand while releasing the latch plate with the first hand without dropping the latch plate; 8) pulling the latch plate through the anterior space and outside the child seat; 9) inserting the latch plate into the car seat buckle. All of the above steps must be done slowly and without jerky movements to avoid triggering any Emergency Locking Retractors in the shoulder harness assembly.
The process is made even more difficult in instances involving: 1) large hands, whereby the insertion of the hands into the slot openings is extremely difficult, if not impossible; 2) the presence of sharp-edged plastic margins inside the anterior space of the back rest that can cause unpleasant scratches and scrapes on one or both of the installer's hands or arms; and/or, 3) a lack of anterior space in the back rest in instances in which the child already has sat down in the child seat, is leaning against the back rest, and is compressing the back rest.
In addition, the process of installing the child seat must be repeated every time the child seat is moved between vehicles or to other locations within a vehicle. Children also become attached to a particular child seat and want the same child seat regardless of vehicle used. As a result, the care giver is regularly, and sometimes on a daily basis, moving the child seat in and around between various vehicles.
Due to the multiple difficulties in installing child seats and the frequency of having to move the child seat, it is not uncommon for one or more of the child's caregivers to altogether fail to secure the seat with the shoulder harness, thereby rendering the child seat useless in a collision or accident. The danger to the child is extreme.
Accordingly, there is an unmet need in the art for a device to ease installation of child seats to prevent the uncomfortable, unwieldy and deterring series of steps as described above, to allow persons of all hand sizes to effectively and efficiently install the child seat, to prevent discomfort or injury to the installer's hands from contact with sharp edged plastic margins, and to permit installation of both empty seats and occupied seats for maximum use and protection to the child.